


Lonely

by genderneutralnoun



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Angst, Gen, Yukari has ADHD don't @ me, but this is a fanfic so creative liberty bitches, fuck I don't even know if they HAVE ADHD meds in Japan, in which I hardcore project on the player character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 00:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20000827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderneutralnoun/pseuds/genderneutralnoun
Summary: A short one-shot about getting upset for no good reason because that's what happens when you're depressed.





	Lonely

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I actually wrote this like a week and a half ago, before I had even beat the game, because I'm THAT obsessed with it. Anyway this has nothing to do with anything but it's canon that Minako fucks EVERYONE. Just saying. I actually have a Shinjiro x you/Minako fic in the works but that might not even happen because Three Houses came out yesterday and Fire Emblem is my first love. I still like Persona better, I just am very loyal to Fire Emblem. Anyway enjoy the very short fic.

Closing the door behind her, Minako walked hurriedly to the stairs, almost making it out without anyone noticing, except for Junpei in the lounge.

“Hey, dude, what're you- wow, you look like shit,” he said in surprise as Minako passed him by without looking.

She did, indeed, look like shit. Her face, normally relaxed and cheerful, was now drawn and flushed, with signs of tears. Perhaps it was the starkness of contrast that made the difference instantly recognizable, but even as she hid it, she was most definitely upset. She opened the door quickly and smoothly, almost confidently, in a way that seemed to conflict with other signs, then she was gone.

  


Her chosen retreat was a small, somewhat overgrown park not far from the dorm. This late in the day, no one was here, which was exactly what she needed. Sitting down at the foot of a tree and placing her portable player on the ground next to her, Minako put her headphones on and started singing brokenly.

_Dreamless dorm_

_Ticking clock_

Sob.

_I walk away_

_From a soundless room_

_Windless night_

_Moonlight melts_

Sob.

_My ghostly shadow_

_To the lukewarm gloom._

Sob.

_Nightly dance_

_Of bleeding swords_

Sob.

_Reminds me that_

Hard sob.

_I still live._

Clutching the player to her chest and hunching forward, Minako soundlessly sung the next part, her voice either giving out or going too high to hear.

_I will_

_BURN MY DREAD_

The next part barely resembles words, amidst terrible failures of voice and weeping.

_I once ran away from the god of fear_

_And he chained me to despair, yeah_

_BURN MY DREAD_

_I will break the chain and run_

_'Til I see the sunlight again_

The last part is mouthed silently, too exhausted to finish.

_I'll_

_Lift my face_

_And run to the sunlight._

  


Five minutes, or perhaps five years later, Minako heard a voice.

“Hey.”

She turned slowly, her face now crusted with dried tears, to see Akihiko. Sweet, selfless Akihiko. Wonderfully oblivious Akihiko. Her heart seemed to swell with raw emotion at seeing the person she loved in this vulnerable state.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently, sitting down next to her.

Minako laughed, but it was dry and cold, nothing like her usual laugh. “What do you think?”

There was a pause. Akihiko seemed to be genuinely considering the question.

“I think you’re upset, and possibly need some reassurance from someone who cares about you.” Despite herself, Minako felt her heart stutter; somehow, Akihiko’s forward affection and care got her more than any flirtatious compliments, like those Ryoji was so fond of. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Minako’s eyes closed and she drew a shuddering breath. “Yukari-chan was… I mean, I was trying to… I wanted to talk to her about something stupid, I forget, but she’s not on her meds, and you know how she is, she can’t listen and pay attention, and I was just…” She trailed off, ashamed. “I-it’s nothing that… nothing that needs fixing, I just… got upset.”

Silence. Then, “Can I hug you?”

Minako nodded. She didn’t care if it was improper, right now she needed comfort. 

They settled together, in the long shadow of the tree, Minako curled up against Akihiko, crying quietly, her emotion refreshed, but not as raw as earlier. Touch seemed to burn away the pain, the raw, aching ball of nerves in her stomach, loosening its grip on her. She no longer felt the urge to run, to flee, to vanish… 

“Thank you,” she said finally. “I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Haha.” Again, it was a hollow laugh, but less purposeful, and more hesitant. 

“Maybe you’re just lonely,” Akihiko suggested.

Minako thought. Lonely… it made sense, sort of. “But I have you, and the others in the dorm,” she said. “I don’t know…”

“You can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely,” Akihiko said gently, his voice wonderfully soft. “Maybe you just need more time with everyone.”

“Maybe,” she wondered aloud. “Maybe.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god I just read this again and Akihiko is SUCH an idiot. A really hot idiot.


End file.
